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Why Transformers will disappoint me

27 June 2007 19 Comments

When I heard about a Transformers movie I was really excited. But once I saw some teasers and previews I was sorrowfully disappointed. I will be going to see Transformers next week (thanks to a pass) and I imagine I will be entertained to some extent, but at the same time I’ll be shaking my head. I spent too much of my childhood with Transformers to accept a second-rate adaptation. I consider myself the audience for this movie because my generation made the Transformers popular in the first place.

There are many reasons why I believe Transformers will fail. Sure, it will make a big splash during the holiday weekend, but much like the other blockbusters this year, it will fall very hard and very fast.

Where are the stars? - Who’s in this movie? There are no worth-while names being billed with this movie. From the previews I’ve only seen some teenage-looking people running around. And no, I don’t qualify Bernie Mac a star, sorry. And even if there are some cameos, there is no star power behind this movie. You can’t sell a movie on effects alone when the movie is otherwise weak (keep reading).

Corporate take over - I was most disappointed when I found that Chevrolet is the major backer of the film and thus all vehicles in the movie are Chevrolet models. This one action single-handedly ruined the movie because it forces them to break ties with the original characters. Instead of a VW bug or a Porsche we have Mustangs and Camaros. This a real shame because a lot of the original characters’ personality came from their vehicle type. Even the main character, Optimus Prime, is the wrong type of semi-truck! This may sound petty but what if they remade Bambi and instead of a deer had a skunk?

What’s the plot? I have only seen a few trailers and previews for the movie. I haven’t read any plotlines or otherwise, so based just on the media, what is the plot here? It’s obvious that some robots are mean and some are nice, but why? Are the bad robots just here because they’re mean and that’s their job? And why do some care about us humans? The original Transformers had a plot revolving around their home planet and the robots’ need for energy.

Over-designed characters - Let’s look at the cartoon. Then look at the movie version. Notice how your eyes don’t bleed from looking at the cartoon model. Now I now this is a live action film so the cartoon models wouldn’t work verbatim, but the robots are WAY over-designed and over-drawn in the new film. They are way to busy and it is hard to determine what is happening and what things are. Your eye has no time to focus and the result is a lot of confusion and overload. Looking at the new characters in robot form you can barely see how they would transform into their mobile forms. Prior you could see where parts move so you had some sort of context as to what they were as robots. Plus, we’ve lost all the color and elegance the characters once had.

I could probably think up a few more if I tried hard, but you get the idea. One good thing about the new film is they managed to retain some of the original character voices. So we know they at least tried to keep some of the classic Transformers, but why stop at voices? I know this all sounds like fan-boy anger, but that’s only the half truth.
I think you’d be surprised how well the original-style characters would have gone over with audiences and children. Everyone assumes we need complex design and action, and that’s just not always the case. I would rather have simple-but-good action over some poor-yet-pretty action.

And we can only hope this doesn’t go franchise and have sequels.

19 Comments »

Thee said:

I can’t remember a movie I have ever wanted to see more than this one. Not LOTR:ROTK, any Star Wars, nothing compares to my desire to see this movie. I can honestly see myself going to see this movies twice during the long 4th weekend.

I followed this movie for the last year and while I wasn’t always sure the movie would be great, I have become confident that this movie will be a Pirates of Caribbean vs a Godzilla/Fantastic Four.

The pedigree of the movie is un-matchable. Michael Bay, Steven Speilburg and ILM. The reviews are calling the CGI the most releastic CGI ever, comparing the relality leap this movies makes to the break-through that was Jurassic Park.

So to adress the points above:
Who are the stars?
Optimus Price, Starscream, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron and Spike (the human). Same stars that have been in all the cartoons.

Corporate take-over?
This is nothing new and rarely distracts from actual movie.

What’s the plot?
Same basic plot as the cartoons. Autobots vs Decepticons on earth searching for energy (energon cubes in the cartoon and the ‘all spark’ in the movies).

Over designed charactors?
I agree that they seem very busy, very complex and very sharp. However, this isn’t a cartoon and creating a CGI cartoon Optimus Prime would look, for lack of a better term, cartoony. They needed to add complexity to make it more realistic. Although I think they did go a bit over board.

Either way, this movie is going to be awesome and it already in my Top10 list.

# 27 June 2007 at 8:51 pm

Brian said:

OK, I know corporate take-over is nothing new, but this buy out directly effects and limits the characters. It’s like if Superman was sponsored by Nike so he had to change his logo from an “S” to the swoosh.

Point taken on the stars. I agree, but then lets not even feature the human story in trailers. The previews make no mention of motive behind the robots.

CGI has now reached the point of being overrated. Who cares? At this point every CGI should look real. Making something look real with a computer is no longer an accomplishment. Video games are currently in this state as well. Good looks were great when they were leaps and bounds, now it’s just expected and is no longer surprising. They’ve proven they can make things look good, now they need to prove they can add substance to back up the look.

I wouldn’t want cartoony characters either…just simpler so when he goes from truck to robot there is still some resemblance of a truck.

And for your sake, I hope this movie does not disappoint. I don’t want this movie to let me down, it’s just what I expect. I hope I will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

# 27 June 2007 at 9:12 pm

Thee said:

Here is a great YouTube video someone put together on Transformers: The Movie vs Transfomers the cartoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY9H8_nEPBA

# 27 June 2007 at 10:19 pm

Brian said:

That Preview Review there hits all the points I talked about, which tells me all Transformers fans are in somewhat of agreement. I especially agree on the point of the voices too. Makes no sense why you wouldn’t use original voices.

It’s unfortunate that movies require a trilogy these days. It shows me that it’s impossible for Hollywood to make good movies in convenient packages.

Especially for these “reboot” movies…in most cases a rebirth of a franchise just reminds you how good the original versions were and that they probably really didn’t need a reboot. There are exceptions, of course. But sometimes, movies are just meant to stand alone, or at most earn a single - single - sequel.

# 30 June 2007 at 12:35 am

King Tom said:

>Where are the stars?

Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce is in the movie. That’s star power enough for me.

# 1 July 2007 at 10:17 pm

Thee said:

You let a few terrorist get on to a Presidential compound, are on duty during a assination attempt on the Russian President, fall in love with the 1st lady and they send you to some militry base in desert BFE. Life’s just not fair.

# 2 July 2007 at 9:57 am

Thee said:

Well the movie is getting good to great reviews. The only reviewers that dislike the movie are those who question its entire premise.

# 3 July 2007 at 11:38 am

Paula said:

I was prepared to be disappointed — and thankfully I was not - yes the figures were a little busy - but I found that the no-names in the movie allowed me to focus on what I should be focusing on — the transformers….

# 4 July 2007 at 12:56 am

Thee said:

1st, Transformers rocked! Action out the wazzu, Prime, Megatron,…

Next, read this little tid-bit I just came across:

“Reported earlier this month that Warner Brothers Studios plans to release ThunderCats, a movie about the human-cat hybrid superheroes, and that Paramount is developing an action movie based on the Hasbro G.I. Joe toys.”

# 4 July 2007 at 11:47 pm

Brian said:

Transformers was a really fun movie. My only complaints is that the camera wouldn’t stay still and the robots were way over designed, especially given the shaky camera angles.

What made the movie was the personality they put into the robots. And not just voice acting, which was good, but the subtle movements of the robots, like rubbing their head in disbelief, made all the difference.

The start was a wee bit slow - I just wanted them to start fighting and shooting - but nothing that effects the whole movie.

Megatron was kind of a let down because he was built up but barely used and he was more a mix between Megatron and Galvatron. I still like Starscream though, always have.

Definitely worth seeing again and we’re practically guaranteed to have 2 more movies.

…Thundercats? I dunno about that. I wasn’t the biggest Thundercats fan to begin with. But GI Joe, now there’s one I can get behind. There are a lot of stories and characters there, so they have lots of options. Lets just hope they don’t jip us by using only 5 characters in the first movie and adding more in more movies.

# 5 July 2007 at 11:47 am

Brian said:

Oh…and would it have been that bad to call the cube an Energon Cube? Seriously, how stupid is “All Spark”…

# 5 July 2007 at 11:48 am

Chris K said:

I think used the wrong title of the movie. It’s actually “General Motors presents The Transformers featuring the all new Chevy Camaro!”

That said, it was just too busy. Was any shot longer than about 3 seconds? And could you actually see any part of the transformers without having it zoomed in so tight you couldn’t make out anything else?

# 6 July 2007 at 11:19 am

Brian said:

And frankly, I wasn’t all too impressed with the new Camaro. I thought it was kind of ugly.

Of course, maybe when I see one blur by me on the freeway it will change my mind.

# 6 July 2007 at 2:36 pm

Chris said:

I wish I could go see movies

# 6 July 2007 at 10:24 pm

Jay said:

Just enjoy the movie for crying out loud. I thought the movie was amazing! Why in the world are they going to spend 20 minutes explaining to you, that dont have an imagination, on how they transform. They are a superior advance robotic race 100’s of years ahead of our current technology.

So many clues pointed to that: Hacking the US Defense network in minutes where even the most technology advance nation next to us would take years; hmm… can space travel…we cant; advance weaponry etc…

You will never ever get a perfect movie. They open the door for your imagination, you have to walk in.

Transformers gets two thumbs up for me and definitely without question looking forward to the ones that follow. A majority of these new action pack films are made from the toys and cartoons we all use to watch…I cant ask for anything better.

# 9 July 2007 at 10:37 am

Thee said:

Transformers is a lot better the 2nd time around. I saw / understood a lot more this time around. All the shots make more sense and the fights played out a lot nicer.

# 15 July 2007 at 4:14 pm

Brian said:

And if you’re looking for some classic Transformers, a user over on YouTube has a good collection of the old series, the first 10 episodes are there in their entirety, good quality too, for YouTube.

Give it a watch and brush up on your Transformers history:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mjtfreeze

# 16 July 2007 at 7:45 pm

Phant said:

The Transformers weren’t over-engineered. Bay said he wanted them to look real. He didn’t want any of that silly size-changing business from the cartoons. The Autobots and Decepticons were modelled from the vehicle mode up, so the robot form was actually possible to build with what you get out of a Camaro.

And I thought making Optimus a Peterbilt was awesome, seeing as I have 3 and my uncle has a few dozen. They’re very familiar to me. And now I might even get a red one painted with blue flames or whatever scheme Optimus had in the movie.

I would also like to note that the chick was HOTTT.

# 21 July 2007 at 2:21 am

bomont livingston said:

the movie is weak they should ov remade the 1986 animated version hated that bumble bee wasnt actualy bumble bee sound wave was a tiny crapy radio no lazer beak or rumble in a word saaaad

# 22 January 2009 at 4:53 am